Knowing how awesome the media is at reporting about guns, I bet he didn't even "shoot" his hand. One of the articles indicated a grazing wound on the employee's palm. He was probably close to racking the slide to clear a no-fire when it finally went off. The front/rear sight probably cut a nice groove in his palm.

Even if he was a "20-year experienced range safety officer who had worked at other ranges and served in the military", he obviously didn't know what he was doing. Never, ever point the business end of a gun toward anything but a safe target. Ever. I don't care if its mag is lying on the bench and the breech is open, with a range flag in place.

NEVER.

And for Cthulhu's sake, keep your goddamn booger-hook off the bang-switch.

"Johnson said the injured employee was a 20-year experienced range safety officer who had worked at other ranges and served in the military. He's "someone who knows what he's doing, just to try to help a customer, and the gun accidentally discharged," Johnson said. "

Flashlight:There is no such thing as an accidental discharge. Only a negligent discharge.

I came here to say exactly that.

Biner:I can understand and admire being extra cautious, but that seems borderline OCD

Good weapons-handling discipline SHOULD be borderline OCD. You do it exactly the same way (IE by the book) every single time without variation, creativity, or improvisation. You repeat it until doing it the right way becomes instinctive and reflexive.

stevarooni:Government Fromage: I picked up one of those laser boresighter doohickies at Gander Mountain for $30. It shapped like a 223 casing and goes in the chamber. I'm going to give it a try this week. Not sure how well it will do but hopefully at least get me hitting the target. Last week was a waste of time at the range. I was turning the knobs on the scope randomly hoping to at least get on paper.

Laser bore sights are awesome! If you've got something steady to use as a rest, aim at a spot about 25 yards away. Click in your scope (or even iron sites) so that the red laser dot is what you're pointing at. At that point, it's aimed as if you were able to hit something with a perfect straight line. AR-15s typically hit about 1 1/2 inches low at 25 yards (assuming you're dialed in for 100 yards), so you'll definitely hit paper if you use a laser bore sight. Love 'em, and have one for every rifle caliber I have (except .22lr).

THIS!!! Bore Sights have saved my friends and I plenty of money in wasted ammo. I even recommend using it if your gunsmith installs the scope.

reubendaley:Can't you just set your target closer to you for the first shot?

Generally, yes.

With my example, the broken scope would not hold a consistent point with repect to the bore. First you would be high-left until the next shot. Then low left, then back high right. Sometimes you would hit paper then adjust the scope. Next shot wouldn't even hit paper.

At least it was wild enough for me to quicky ascertain that the scope was faulty. What really drives you crazy is when the scope does the same thing, but only in 3 MOA increments instead of 20 MOA

wildcardjack:Frisco is mostly Californians, so it's not representative of Texas. Srsly, it's where they put the first In-N-Out when they came to town. It was packed open to close for weeks.

I lived there when Texas' first In-N-Out opened; it was in Allen not Frisco. And yes, it took SWAT teams to manage drive-thru traffic during opening week. I had to wait a month before scoring some of that greasy goodness.

Frisco was a virtual overnight popup suburb built around a giant new mall when credit was easy and mortgages fell from the sky, all located 15 miles north of North Dallas. Most residents are not Californians, but rather existing Metroplexites just upgrading to big new shiny.

kqc7011:Sounds like someone does not know the difference between Clearing and Cleaning.Two very different operations.A hangfire is always a possibility when clearing after the primer has been struck and the round does not go off.But one should never cover anything with the muzzle at any time.However sometimes one will when clearing a round and there is no way around it.

BSABSVR:Those can't be predictable. Fark assures me that people are never shot at gun clubs.

Also I hate the passive voice there. The gun didn't just up and discharge. The employee was trying to clean a loaded gun.

Yup. As a shooter, I'm always amazed at how cavalier people will treat these objects. I don't know if it's a matter of being around them so much that you get too comfortable or just everyday dumbassery.

Myself, I'm borderline obsessive-compulsive when handling guns. You have to respect them. But then, I drive the streets everyday and see people who shouldn't be behind the wheel. I guess shiats gonna happen.

BSABSVR:Those can't be predictable. Fark assures me that people are never shot at gun clubs.

Also I hate the passive voice there. The gun didn't just up and discharge. The employee was trying to clean a loaded gun.

Doubtful. "Luxury" gun club, first night open, new employees. Probably more like, "OH WOW, dood, cool gun, can I see it? Thanks. Mannn... how much did you pay for this?? Man, this gun is Bad... ASS. I've been thinking to get one, ya know, I'm a real fan of th"<BANG>